A Single Red Rose
by too many stars to count
Summary: Barbara's first Valentine's Day living alone is feeling a little lonely. Luckily a father never forgets some things. Please R&R.


**A/N:** A rather old, and late, Valentine's Day fic about about Barbara and Jim. Let me know what you think!

**A Single Red Rose**

Barbara had decided to move out and into her own apartment after one too many close calls between Jim Gordon and Batgirl. He hadn't been particularly happy that his daughter would be leaving but Jim knew a lost battle when he saw one. So he accepted it and helped her find an apartment close to home in a safe neighborhood where Jim felt he could leave his little girl.

She loved the freedom of not having to worry about her father finding her uniform. No made up excuses when she was too tired to make the trek home from the strangely and comfortingly familiar refuge of the Batcave. So she hadn't expected to wake up Valentine's Day missing her uncle-turned-father.

Every year since she moved in with her new father Barbara had come down to breakfast February 14th to find a single red rise sitting in a vase on their kitchen table. Accompanying it would be a note wishing her a happy Valentine's Day and the promise of going out to her favorite restaurant for dinner. Barbara hadn't heard anything this year. And she'd talked to her dad just a few days.

Honestly, Barbara was feeling a little neglected

She shuffled out o her room wrapped firmly in her robe still rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Barbara stared determinedly _away_ from her own little kitchen table opting instead to get her newspaper. She settled down on the couch wondering if the _Gotham Gazette_ had gotten word of Catwoman's late night jewelry theft yet. _'Well,'_ She thought grinning. _'At least Bruce will have a little romance tonight.'_

Barbara decided a shower was in order next and 40 minutes later emerged from a steam-filled bathroom a towel locked firmly around her fiery locks. She pulled on a pair of sweatpants and an old GCPD sweatshirt she'd stolen from her dad's room years ago. She towel dried her hair as best she could knowing it would do whatever it wanted.

Sighing heavily Barbara pulled case files from the backpack she'd brought home from the Cave last night. Bruce had so thoughtfully hooked her computer at home up to the main database in the Batcave. It saved her the trouble of going all the way up to the Manor but Bruce was now more likely to send her home with files to load and classify.

It wasn't hard and she usually found the work pretty interesting. It also gave her a chance to test the protection she and Bruce were forever updating against whoever was stupid enough to poke at their servers when they were the most vulnerable. After a few days hard work they'd managed to crash the computer of anyone who tied to break through their firewall.

But other days, like today, when she was a little down and lonely it all seemed like pointless busy work. Oh, Barbara knew that wasn't true but it was easy enough to dismiss it as such when her spirits were low.

_'Suck it up, Babs!'_ She told herself sternly. _'This kind of stuff doesn't stop just because you're feeling sorry for yourself. What if Bruce needed these files tonight and they weren't there? You signed up for this life so gets to work.'_

Her resolve slightly hardened Barbara opened the first case file and started plugging in the details of Catwoman's latest crime. She silently promised herself free reign on the bag of heart shaped chocolates hiding in the cupboard once she finished.

Barbara had just finished sending a message to Bruce about the possible formation of a crime-circle with Two-Face at it's head when someone knocked on the door a few hours later. Quickly Barbara threw up a game of solitaire and a science blog trusting them to hide all of the sensitive files clearly open on her computer.

"I'm coming." She called stretching lazily. Absently running a hand through her door Barbara went to the door not wanting to keep whoever it was waiting. _'Probably Bruce.'_ She thought rolling her eyes. _'I bet he wants a closer look at those files. He probably checks his email on his cell phone.'_

"Hello?" She opened the door and stopped surprised. Someone was standing in her buildings tiny hallway with their face completely obscured by a bouquet of deep red roses. Suddenly the deliveryman's face popped out from behind the flowers.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" He said with a surprising amount of cheer for someone who must have said those three same words a hundred times that day.

"Uhm. Same to you." Barbara stared at the deliveryman.

"Are you Miss Barbara Gordon?" He grinned at her.

'_Joker venom.'_ She decided. No one could be so cheery without a heavy dose of Joker venom. "Yes." She said uncertainly instead. _'Who's sending me flowers?'_ Barbara wondered completely blown away.

"Well then _these_" He presented the flowers to her with a flourish. "Are for you. There's a note too!" He plopped an envelope into her free hand. Then he tipped his hat, and with one last 'Happy Valentine's Day!', was heading down the hallways no doubt on his was to deliver a similar bouquet to someone else in Gotham.

"Happy Valentine's Day." Barbara returned distractedly. "What on Earth?" She murmured to herself shutting the door. It wasn't until she'd put the flower into a vase of water, set them carefully on the kitchen table, and was once again sitting in front of her computer that her brain caught up with her wonder. _'The card you idiot!'_

Jumping up from her desk Barbara went back to the kitchen counter where she'd left the envelope. She read the car quickly relief and happiness flooding through her unknowingly tense muscles.

_Dear Barbara,_

_Happy Valentine's Day sweetie. I hope you like the flowers. I know you're all grown up now but how about having dinner with your Dad tonight at the Shady Tree? I'll pick you up after work around 6:30. Have a good day kiddo._

_Love,_

_Dad_

Barbara blinked away unexpected tears at the card. It'd be nice to have a few hours off from her double life.

After shutting down the computer (with all security measures back in place) and calling Bruce to tell him she'd be late for patrol (he _did_ want a closer look at the case files as she'd expected) Barbara stopped in front of her table. Something didn't look right.

"Of course!" She said to the empty apartment. Barbara dug under her cupboard and pulled out another, smaller, vase. After scrutinizing the bouquet critically for a few minutes Barbara plucked the prettiest rose out and put it into the smaller vase by itself. Once she'd filled it with water she placed that vase onto her kitchen table moving the larger vase to her living room table.

_'It's nice to know some things don't change.'_ She smiled happily to herself before disappearing into her room to pick out a dress for dinner.


End file.
